System and Method for Resource Allocation

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method for scheduling a series of recurring events including: receiving one or more requests to allocate resource(s) to a series of recurring events, wherein the one or more requests specify, for each event, a corresponding desired time period over which the resource(s) are to be allocated, and the one or more requests further specify one or more adjustment criteria for defining, for one or more of the events, one or more permissibly adjusted time periods from the desired time period; obtaining, for each event, resource availability data indicative of an availability of the resource(s) during the desired time period; and, for each event: determining, based on the resource availability data, a viable time period, wherein the viable time period is either the desired time period or a permissibly adjusted time period that satisfies the one or more adjustment criteria; and allocating the resource(s) to the viable time period.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for allocatingresources to time periods. In particular, but without limitation, thisdisclosure relates to systems and method for allocating resources to aseries of recurring events.

BACKGROUND

Resource-allocation systems facilitate the allocation of resources atvarious time periods. Many resources are allocated on a recurring basisto a series of recurring events, e.g. a given resource may be allocatedto an event occurring every week at a particular time and date. Forexample, a confluence (e.g. a meeting) may occur or at regular intervalsand resources for that confluence accordingly allocated at the regularintervals. However, existing resource allocation systems havesignificant limitations in handling series of recurring events. Theseexisting systems determine time periods for the events without takinginto account factors that could render at least some of these timeperiods unviable. By determining unviable time periods, these systemsresult in events being scheduled at unviable times necessitatingrescheduling of these events.

SUMMARY

Aspects described herein improve scheduling of a series of recurringevents by utilizing data relating to the availability of resources to beutilized for instances of the series of recurring events. Theseimprovements result in the prevention of and/or reduction in instancesof the series of recurring events being scheduled at unviable timeperiods, e.g. time periods where resources needed for the event areunavailable. This reduction in the scheduling of events at unviable timeperiods results in fewer reschedulings and/or impromptu cancellations ofevents. In a computer-implemented resource-allocation system,communicating reschedulings and impromptu cancellations of eventsconsumes network bandwidth and computational resources. Thus, reducingthese reduces the network bandwidth and computational resources consumedby a computer-implemented resource-allocation system.

According to a first aspect, there is provided a computer-implementedmethod for scheduling a series of recurring events. The method includes:receiving one or more requests to allocate one or more resources to aseries of recurring events, wherein the one or more requests specify,for each event, a corresponding desired time period over which the oneor more resources are to be allocated, and the one or more requestsfurther specify one or more adjustment criteria for defining, for one ormore of the events, one or more permissibly adjusted time periods fromthe desired time period; obtaining, for each event, resourceavailability data indicative of an availability of the one or moreresources during the desired time period; and for each event:determining, based on the resource availability data, a viable timeperiod, wherein the viable time period is either the desired time periodor a permissibly adjusted time period that satisfies the one or moreadjustment criteria; and allocating the one or more resources to theviable time period.

Allocating resources to each event of a series of recurring events byallocating resources to a respective viable time period that isdetermined based on resource availability data increases the likelihoodthat appropriate resource(s) are available for each event. This preventsor at least reduces events being scheduled at unviable time periods,e.g. time periods where resources needed for the event are unavailable.This prevention or at least reduction in the scheduling of events atunviable time periods results in fewer reschedulings and/or impromptucancellations of events. As communicating reschedulings and impromptucancellations of events consumes network bandwidth and computationalresources, the consumption of network bandwidth and computationalresource are correspondingly reduced.

The provided method may include receiving a request to allocate one ormore resources to a first event, wherein the request specifies a timeinterval within which the one or more resources are to be allocated;obtaining first resource availability data indicative of an availabilityof the one or more resources during the time interval; determining,based on the first resource availability data, a first time period forthe first event; and allocating the one or more resources to the firsttime period.

Allocating resources to a first event by allocating resources to a firsttime period determined based on resource availability data increases thelikelihood that appropriate resource(s) are available for the furtherevent. This prevents or at least reduces the likelihood of the firstevent being scheduled at an unviable time period, e.g. time periodswhere resources needed for the first event are unavailable. This mayreduce network bandwidth and computational resource consumption for thereasons given above. Furthermore, specifying that the first time periodis within a first time interval, rather than constraining the first timeperiod more tightly, e.g., by specifying that the first time period mustbe one of one or more time periods, reduces the likelihood that it willnot be possible to determine a suitable first time period. This mayprevent or at least reduce the likelihood that an additional modifiedrequest needs to be made in order to successfully allocate resources tothe first event. Sending, receiving and processing such additionalmodified requests consumes computational resources and networkbandwidth. Hence, by preventing or at reducing the likelihood that suchadditional modified requests are made, computational resource andnetwork bandwidth consumption are correspondingly reduced.

At least one of the desired time periods may be based on the first timeperiod.

Basing at least one of the desired time periods on the first time periodmay increase the predictability of the at least one of the desired timeperiods and, consequently, the predictability of the corresponding atleast one of the viable time periods. Increasing the predictably of theat least one of the viable time periods increases the memorability ofthe at least one of the viable time periods reducing the likelihood ofimpromptu cancellations, and correspondingly reducing computationalresource and network bandwidth consumption associated therewith.

For at least one event of the series of recurring events, determiningthe viable time period may include: determining, based on the resourceavailability data, that at least one of the one or more resources isunavailable at the desired time period; in response to determining thatthe at least one of the one or more resources is unavailable at thedesired time period, determining the one or more permissibly adjustedtime periods from the one or more adjustment criteria; and setting theviable time period to be one of the one or more permissibly adjustedtime periods.

Determining the viable time period to be one of one or more permissiblyadjusted time periods where at least one of the one or more resources isunavailable at the desired time period prevents the one or moreresources from being allocated to the desired time period where at leastone of the one or more resources are unavailable at the desired timeperiod. If the one or more resources were to be allocated to the desiredtime period, this would require an impromptu cancellation orrescheduling which consumes computational resources and networkbandwidth. Thus, preventing this reduces computational resource andnetwork bandwidth consumption.

Setting the viable time period to be the one of the one permissiblyadjusted time periods may include determining, based on the resourceavailability data, that the at least one of the one or more resourcesare available at the one of the one or more permissibly adjusted timeperiods.

Determining that the at least one of the one or more resources areavailable at the one of the one or more permissibly adjusted timeperiods at which the one or more resources are to be allocated preventsor at least reduces the likelihood that rescheduling or impromptucancellation will be required because of an unavailability of the atleast one of the one or more resources. As rescheduling and impromptucancellation consume network bandwidth and computational resources,network bandwidth and computational resource consumption arecorrespondingly reduced.

The one or more requests may include a request to allocate a desiredplurality of resources including the one or more resources and one ormore unavailable resources. The provided method may include obtainingresource importance data indicative of a relative importance of the atleast one of the one or more resources and the one or more unavailableresources. Setting the viable time period may include determining, basedon the resource importance data, that the at least one of the one ormore resources is of greater importance than the one or more unavailableresources.

Setting the viable time period based on the at least one of the one ormore resources being of greater importance than the one or moreunavailable resources may facilitate allocation of the one or moreresources to time periods in circumstances where not all of the desiredplurality of resources are available but at least one of the one or moreresources of greater importance, e.g. required resources, are available.This may facilitate scheduling of events in circumstances where there isno viable time period at which all of the one or more resources areavailable. Without such functionality, additional modified requests mayneed to be made in order to find a time period at which the at least oneof the resources of greater importance are available. For example, auser would otherwise manually make further requests removing resourcesfrom the request which they consider to be less important. As makingeach of these additional modified requests consumes network bandwidthand computational resources, by avoiding these, computational bandwidthand network resource usage may be correspondingly reduced.

The one or more requests may include one or more repetition objectivesfor specifying the corresponding desired time period for each event.

The one or more repetition objectives may include one or more of arecurrence definition, a periodicity definition, a day referencedefinition and/or a named day definition.

Utilizing repetition objectives, e.g. of the types described, increasemaintainability of systems implementing the provided method by providinga precise but flexible mechanism by which the desired time periods maybe defined.

The one or more adjustment criteria may include one or more of a timerange; a date range; a time flexibility parameter; a date flexibilityparameter; a plurality of time alternatives; and/or a plurality of datealternatives.

Utilizing one or more of the specified adjustment criteria increasemaintainability of systems implementing the provided method byfacilitating easier and more precise specification of often desiredadjustment criteria.

The one or more adjustment criteria may include one or more adjustmentconstraints specifying limitations to the permissible adjustments to thedesired time period.

The one or more adjustment constraints may include one or more exclusionindicators specifying one or more time periods excluded from the one ormore permissibly adjusted time periods and/or a repetition restrictionspecifying a minimum time interval between the one or more permissiblyadjusted time periods and a previous viable time period.

Specifying limitations the permissible adjustments to the desired timeperiod, e.g. using one or more exclusion indicators, may prevent or atleast reduce the likelihood that the one or more resources are allocatedto a time period that is unwanted or undesired. This reduces thelikelihood of reschedulings or impromptu cancellations being required.As these consume network bandwidth and computational resources, networkbandwidth and computational resource consumption are reduced.

The one or more resources may include one or more persons.

Due to their mobile nature and unpredictable schedules, persons are atype of resource that are particularly difficult to allocate to timeperiods. Thus, the benefits of the provided method may be particularlypronounced for allocating one or more persons.

The one or more resources may include one or more locations for at eastone event of the series of recurring events.

The availability of locations, such as meeting rooms, is often dependenton persons' schedules, so, as a result of their unpredictable schedules,may itself be unpredictable. Thus, the benefits of the provided methodmay be particularly pronounced for allocation one or more locations.

For at least one event of the series of recurring events, determiningthe viable time period may include: providing, to the one or morepersons, one or more permissibly adjusted time period options; receivingone or more indications of one or more preferred time periods, whereinthe one or more indications are based on one or more inputs by at leastone of the one or more persons in response to the provision of the oneor more permissibly adjusted time period options; and determining theviable time period based on the received one or more indications of theone or more preferred time periods.

Providing the one or more permissibly adjusted time period options tothe one or more persons may include sending, to one or more computingdevices of the one or more persons, the one or more permissibly adjustedtime period options.

The one or more permissibly adjusted time period options may include theviable time period. The at least one of the one or more inputs mayinclude a selection of the viable time period.

Determining the viable time period based on indications based on one ormore inputs by at least one of the one or more person may reduce thelikelihood that the at least one of the one or more person is, in fact,unavailable at the supposedly viable time period, despite this not beingindicated by the resource availability data. This reduces the likelihoodof reschedulings and impromptu cancellations and, as these consumenetwork bandwidth and computational resources, network bandwidth andcomputational resource consumption are reduced.

The provided method may include, for at least one event of the series ofrecurring events: obtaining preference data indicative of one or moretime period preferences of at least one of the one or more persons. Thedetermination of the viable time period for the at least one event maybe based on the preference data.

Utilizing preference data for the determination of the viable timeperiod may reduce the likelihood that at least one of the one or morepersons become unavailable after the initial allocation of the at leastone of the one or more persons to the viable time period.

This reduces the likelihood that reschedulings and impromptucancellations are required. As these consume network bandwidth andcomputational resources, network bandwidth and computational resourceconsumption are reduced.

The series of recurring events may be a series of recurring confluences.

Confluences involve persons, who are known to have unpredictableschedules, meaning that recurring confluences are particularly difficultto schedule. Therefore, the benefits of the provided method may beparticularly pronounced when used for scheduling confluences.

The provided method may include obtaining, for at least one event of theseries of recurring events, updated resource availability dataindicative of an updated availability of the one or more resourcesduring the viable time period; determining, based on the updatedresource availability data, an updated viable time period for the atleast one event, wherein the updated viable time period is either thedesired time period or a permissibly adjusted time period; andallocating the one or more resources, for the at least one event, to theupdated viable time period.

Determining the updated viable time period may include: determining,based on the updated resource availability data, that at least one ofthe one or more resources is unavailable at the previous viable timeperiod; in response to determining that the at least one of the one ormore resources is unavailable at the viable time period, determining,based on the updated resource availability data, that the at least oneof the one or more resources is available at one or more other timeperiods, wherein each of the one or more other time periods is thedesired time period or a permissibly adjusted time period; and settingthe updated viable time period to be one of the one or more other timeperiods.

Utilizing updated resource availability data to update the viable timeperiod for at least one event increases the likelihood that appropriateresource(s) are available for the at least one event at the updatedviable time period. This prevents or at least reduces the likelihoodthat the resources needed for the at least one event are unavailable atthe updated viable time period. This reduces the likelihood thatimpromptu cancellations or further reschedulings will be required. Asimpromptu cancellations and further reschedulings consume computationalresources and network bandwidth, by reducing these, computationalresource and network bandwidth consumption are reduced.

According to a second aspect, a computing system is provided includingone or more computing devices. The one or more computing devices includeone or more processors configured to; receive one or more requests toallocate one or more resources to a series of recurring events, whereinthe one or more requests specify, for each event, a correspondingdesired time period over which the one or more resources are to beallocated, and the one or more requests further specify one or moreadjustment criteria for defining, for one or more of the events, one ormore permissibly adjusted time periods from the desired time period;obtain, for each event, resource availability data indicative of anavailability of the one or more resources during the desired timeperiod; and for each event :determine, based on the resourceavailability data, a viable time period, wherein the viable time periodis either the desired time period or a permissibly adjusted time periodthat satisfies the one or more adjustment criteria; and allocate the oneor more resources to the viable time period.

According to a third aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable mediumis provided. The non-transitory computer-readable medium includesinstructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:receive one or more requests to allocate one or more resources to aseries of recurring events, wherein the one or more requests specify,for each event, a corresponding desired time period over which the oneor more resources are to be allocated, and the one or more requestsfurther specify one or more adjustment criteria for defining, for one ormore of the events, one or more permissibly adjusted time periods fromthe desired time period; obtain, for each event, resource availabilitydata indicative of an availability of the one or more resources duringthe desired time period; and for each event: determine, based on theresource availability data, a viable time period, wherein the viabletime period is either the desired time period or a permissibly adjustedtime period that satisfies the one or more adjustment criteria; andallocate the one or more resources to the viable time period.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Arrangements of the present invention will be understood and appreciatedmore fully from the following detailed description, made by way ofexample only and taken in conjunction with drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic detailing a computer system for allocatingresources to a series of recurring events in accordance with anembodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a method for scheduling a series of recurring eventsaccording to an embodiment:

FIG. 3 shows methods for determining a viable time period for one ormore events according to embodiments;

FIG. 4 shows a method for updating one or more time periods based onupdated resource availability data according to an embodiment; and

FIG. 5 shows a computing device using which the embodiments describedherein may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The embodiments described herein aim to improve scheduling of a seriesof recurring events by utilizing data relating to the availability ofresources to be utilized for instances of the series of recurringevents. These improvements result in the prevention of and/or reductionin instances of the series of recurring events being scheduled atunviable time periods, e.g. time periods where resources needed for theevent are unavailable. This reduction in the scheduling of events atunviable time periods results in fewer reschedulings and/or impromptucancellations of events. In a computer-implemented resource-allocationsystem, communicating reschedulings and impromptu cancellations ofevents consumes network bandwidth and computational resources. Thus,reducing these reduces the network bandwidth and computational resourcesconsumed by a computer-implemented resource-allocation system.

Resource Allocation System

FIG. 1 shows a schematic detailing a computer system 100 for allocatingresources to a series of recurring events in accordance with anembodiment. The computer system 100 is configured to allocate resourcesfor instances of the series of recurring events based on resourceavailability data.

The computer system 100 includes client devices 112 used by respectivepersons 110. The client devices 112 may be any suitable computingdevices, e.g. smartphones, tablet computers, laptop computers, desktopcomputers, feature phones, and/or any other computing device configuredto communicate with network 120.

At least one of the client devices 112 may be utilizable by a respectiveperson 110 to request the allocation of resources to a series ofrecurring events. The request may be sent by the client device 112 viathe network 120. The request may be sent using any suitable mechanismand/or in any suitable form, e.g. as an application programminginterface (API) call, a web service request (e.g. a representationalstate transfer (REST) request), an email or a messaging service message.The respective person 110 may input the request through one or moreapplications using which the request may be sent, e.g. a web browserapplication shown a request input web page, a messaging applicationthrough which resource request messages may be sent, and/or a nativeapplication through which requests may be sent.

The request may specify one or more resources that are required for eachof or each of a subset of the series of recurring events, and may alsospecify one or more resources that are desired for each of or each of asubset of the series of recurring events. The request may specify, foreach event of the series of recurring events, a corresponding desiredtime period at which to allocate the one or more required resources and,if possible, at least some of the desired one or more resources.

A first time period for a first event in the series may be within agiven interval but need not have a specified start and/or end time.Alternatively, the desired start and end of the desired time period maybe specified, (e.g. a request to allocate resources for 10 am to 11 amon Thursday 19 Jun. 2020). One or more of the corresponding desired timeperiods for the subsequent events in the series of recurring may bebased on the first time period and/or defined relative to the first timeperiod rather than being explicitly defined in the request.

The corresponding desired time periods for each of the series ofrecurring events may be specified by one or more repetition objectives,which may specify the pattern of the desired time periods and/or therelationship between each of the desired time periods. In addition, therequest may specify one or more adjustment criteria, which define one ormore permissibly adjusted time periods for each of the desired timeperiods.

The repetition objectives may include, but are not limited to, one ormore of a recurrence definition, a periodicity, definition, a dayreference definition and/or a named day definition. A recurrencedefinition may specify that the desired time period should recur at agiven time period frequency, e.g. daily, weekly or monthly. Aperiodicity definition may specify that the desired time period shouldrecur at given intervals, e.g. every X days, Y weeks or Z months, whereX, Y and Z are positive integers. A day reference definition may specifythat the desired time period should recur one or more given numbereddays or working days relative to the start or end of an interval, e.g. amonth or a year. For example, a day reference definition may specifythat the desired time period should recur on: the 5^(th) day of themonth; the 2^(nd) last working day of the month; or the 5^(th) lastworking day of the year. The day reference definition may specify thatthe desired time period should recur on a plurality of numbered days orworking days. For example, a day reference definition may specify thatthe desired time period should recur on the 4^(th) day of the month, the15^(th) day of the month and the 2^(nd) last day of the month. A namedday definition may specify that the desired time period should recur ona given named day of the week, e.g. on a Monday or on a Friday. Aplurality of repetition objectives may be combined. For example, a dayreference definition and a named day definition may be combined todefine a combined repetition objective indicating that the event shouldoccur on a named day closest to the numbered day, e.g. that the desiredtime period should recur on the Tuesday closest to the 6^(th) day of themonth.

The adjustment criteria define rules for setting an alternative timeperiod to the desired time period. Generally, the system will aim to seta viable time period that has the same length as the desired time periodand that maximizes the amount of resources that can be allocated to theevent whilst still satisfying the adjustment criteria. For instance,when scheduling a series of confluences, each instance will be adjustedbased on the adjustment criteria to maximize the number of attendees.

The adjustment criteria may include, but are not limited to, one or moreof a time range; a date range; a time flexibility parameter; a dateflexibility parameter; one or more time alternatives; and/or one or morealternatives.

A time range defines a start time and end time within which the timeperiod can be permissibly adjusted. For example, the desired time periodmay be 10 am-11 am, the time range may be 10 am-3 pm, and thepermissibly adjusted time period may be any one hour time period withinthis range.

A date range defines a start date and end date within which the date ofthe time period can be permissibly adjusted. For example, the desiredtime period may be 10 am-11 am on 5^(th) May, the date range may be3^(rd) May-7^(th) May, and the permissibly adjusted time period may be10 am-11 am on any of the 3^(rd), 4^(th), 6^(th), or 7^(th) May.

A time flexibility parameter defines an amount of time by which thedesired time period may be adjusted. For example, the desired timeperiod may be 1 pm-1:30 pm, the time flexibility parameter may be 1:5hours, and the permissibly adjusted time periods may be an adjustment ofthe desired time period by up to an hour and a half, e.g. any 30 minutetime period starting at a time between 11:30 am and 2:00 pm.

A date flexibility parameter defines a number of days or working days bywhich the date of the desired time period may be adjusted. For example,the desired time period may be 3 pm-4 pm on 15^(th) July, the dateflexibility parameter may be 2 days, and the permissibly adjusted timeperiod may be 3 pm-4 pm on any of the 13^(th), 14^(th), 16^(th) or17^(th) July. As another example, the desired time period may be 1 pm-3pm on Friday 19^(th) Jun. 2020, the date flexibility parameter may be 2working days, and the permissibly adjusted time period may be 1 pm-3 pmon any of 17^(th), 18^(th), 22^(nd) or 23^(rd) Jun. 2020, as the 20^(th)and 21^(st) Jun. 2020 are non-working days.

One or more time alternatives define one or more different time periodsto which the time period may be permissibly adjusted. For example, thedesired time period may be 1 pm-2 pm, the one or more time alternativesmay be 9 am-10 am and 5 pm-6 pm, and the permissibly adjusted timeperiod may be either of these times.

One or more date alternatives define one or more different date to whichthe date of the desired time period may be permissibly adjusted. Forexample, the desired time period may be 8 am-9 am on 16^(th) September,the one or more date alternatives may be 11^(th) September, and thepermissibly adjusted time period may be 8 am-9 am on 11^(th) September.

A plurality of adjustment criteria may be combined. For example, a daterange and a time flexibility parameter may be combined. As an example,the desired time period may be 4 pm-5 pm on 3^(rd) October, the daterange may be 1^(st)-4^(th) October, and the time flexibility parametermay be two hours. Therefore, the permissibly adjusted time period may beany one hour time period starting between 2 pm and 6 pm on any of the1^(st), 2^(nd), 3^(rd) or 4^(th) October other than the desired timeperiod.

The adjustment criteria may include one or more adjustment constraintsspecifying limitations to the permissible adjustments to the desiredtime period. For example, the adjustment criteria may also include oneor more other adjustment criteria defining a broad range of times and/ordates to which the time period may be permissibly adjusted, but thereare exceptions to this broad range which are defined by the adjustmentconstraints.

The adjustment constraints may include, but are not limited to, one ormore of an exclusion indicator and/or a repetition restriction.

An exclusion indicator specifies one or more time periods excluded fromthe one or more permissibly adjusted time periods. An exclusionindicator may be a time exclusion range; or a date exclusion range, Atime exclusion range specifies one or more time intervals within which apermissibly adjusted time period cannot fall, e.g. the desired timeperiod may be an hour long, and a time exclusion range may be 12:30 pmto 1:30 pm so the time period cannot be permissibly adjusted to any timeperiod which falls even partly within this range, e.g. the time periodcannot be permissibly adjusted to 1:15 pm to 2:15 pm. A date exclusionrange specifies particular dates which the time period cannot bepermissibly adjusted to fall on, e.g. another adjustment criteria may bea date range covering December 1^(st)-31^(st) and the date exclusionrange may exclude a range of dates within this period corresponding topublic holidays, e.g. 25^(th)-26^(th) December.

A repetition restriction specifies a minimum time interval between theone or more permissibly adjusted time periods and a previous time periodat which an instance of the event has occurred or is scheduled to occur.For example, a date range or date flexibility parameter adjustmentcriteria may indicate that the time period may be permissibly adjustedto any working day of a given week, but the repetition restriction mayexclude dates which are less than a week from the previous time periodat which an instance of the event has occurred or is scheduled to occur,

One or more of the client device(s) 112 may include one or moreapplications configured to receive one or more permissibly adjusted timeperiod options via the network 120, presenting these one or morepermissibly adjusted time period options to the respective person 110,and, in response to presenting these permissibly adjusted time periodoptions, send one or more indications of time periods preferred by theperson via the network 120. These one or more applications may include amessaging or email application displaying a received message or emailincluding the one or more permissibly time period options and providingfunctionality to reply to the message with a message indicating the oneor more preferred time periods. These one or more applications mayinclude a web browser application showing received web content thatincludes the one or more permissibly adjusted time period options andweb user interface elements for inputting the one or more preferred timeperiods. These one or more applications may include a native application(e.g. an app) presenting the permissibly adjusted time period options,which may have been received using a web service, and user interactionaspects for indicating the one or more preferred time periods. Thepresentation of the one or more permissibly adjusted time period optionsmay be visual, e.g. displaying the one or more permissibly adjusted timeperiod options on a display integral to or connected to the respectiveclient device 112, or may be audible, e.g. audio output including asynthesized voice speaking the one or more permissibly time periodoptions. The indication of the one or more preferred time periods may bea selection of one or more of the permissibly adjusted time periodoptions or may be an indication of another one or more preferred timeperiods. The another one or more preferred time periods may be anotherone or more permissibly adjusted time periods which were not included inthe one or more permissibly adjusted time period options or may be atime period that is not a permissibly adjusted time period. Where theanother one or more time periods are not permissibly adjusted timeperiods, the client application may provide feedback to the personindicating this.

The computer system includes the network 120 to which the client devices112 are connected. The network 120 may be any suitable network overwhich data may be communicated. For example. the network 120 may be anyinterface over which data may be transferred from the one or moreapplications to one or more interfaces 130. For example, the network 120may be any of or any combination of a local area network (LAN), awireless local area network (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), acellular network (e.g. a GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G or CDMA network), an Intranetor the Internet.

The computer system 100 also includes the one or more interfaces 130.The one or more interfaces 130 are configured to act as gateways betweenmessages and/or requests received from the client devices 112, over thenetwork 120, and an application server side runtime 140. The one or moreinterfaces 130 may be one or more computer programs implemented on asingle computing device or over a plurality of computing devices. Forexample, each of the one or more interfaces may be implemented asindividual computer programs and each of the individual computerprograms may be hosted on a different computing device, or the one ormore interfaces may be implemented as a single computer program hostedon a single computing device. The one or more interfaces may also beseparate to, but in communication with, the application server sideruntime 140 or may be components of the application server side runtime140.

The one or more interfaces may include a web interface 132. The webinterface may provide functionality of the application server sideruntime 140 to the client devices via one or more web pages and/or as aweb application. The web interface 132 may receive one or more webprotocol requests (e.g. HTTP requests) from a browser application on oneof the client devices 112 indicating a request to allocate resources toa series of recurring events. In response to these web protocolrequests, the web interface 132 may input this resource-allocationrequest or a transformation thereof to the application server sideruntime 140. In response to the resource-allocation request or thetransformation thereof, the application server side runtime 140 may sendone or more messages indicative of permissibly adjusted time periodoptions to the web interface 132. Then, the web interface 132 may sendweb content (e.g. HTML content) and/or web data (e.g. REST data)including these permissibly adjusted time period options to one or moreof the client devices 112. The web interface 132 may receive one or moreweb protocol messages (e.g. HTTP messages) from at least one of the oneor more of the client devices 112 indicating one or more preferred timeperiods, which may be a selection of one or of the one or morepermissibly adjusted time period options, and the web interface 132 mayinput this indication to the application server side runtime 140.Further resource-allocation functionality of the application server sideruntime 140 may be provided to the client devices via the web interface132 using similar mechanisms.

The one or more interfaces 130 may include an app interface 134. The appinterface 134 may provide functionality of the application server sideruntime 140 to the client devices 112 via one or more servicesutilisable by native application(s) on the client devices 112. The appinterface 134 may receive one or more service requests (e.g. applicationprogramming interface (API) requests, representational state transfer(REST) API requests, or Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) requests)from a native application on one of the client devices indicating arequest to allocate resources to a series of recurring events. Inresponse to these service requests, the app interface 134 may input thisresource-allocation request or a transformation thereof to theapplication server side runtime 140. In response to theresource-allocation request or the transformation thereof, theapplication server side runtime 140 may send one or more messagesindicative of one or more permissibly adjusted time period options tothe app interface 134. Then, the app interface 134 may send one or moreservice requests indicating these permissibly adjusted time periodoptions to one or more of the client devices 112 for use by the nativeapplication. The app interface 134 may receive one or more servicerequests at least one of the one or more client devices 112 indicatingone or more preferred time periods, which may be a selection of one orof the one or more permissibly adjusted time period options, and the appinterface 134 may input this indication to the application server sideruntime. Further resource-allocation functionality of the applicationserver side runtime 140 may be provided to the client devices via theapp interface 134 using similar mechanisms.

The one or more interfaces 130 may include a text interface 136. Thetext interface 136 may provide functionality of the application serverside runtime 140 to the client devices 112 via messages communicatedbetween the text interface 136 and the client devices 112. The textinterface 136 may receive one or more messages (e.g. short messageservice (SMS) messages, rich communication service (RCS) messages,messaging app messages, social network messages) from one of the clientdevices 112 where the one or more messages include a request to allocateresources to a series of recurring events. In response to these one ormore messages, the text interface 136 may input a resource-allocationrequest based on the request in the one or more messages to theapplication server side runtime 140. In response to theresource-allocation requests the application server side runtime 140 maysend one or more messages indicative of permissibly adjusted time periodoptions to the text interface 136. Then, the text interface 136 may sendone or more messages including the permissibly adjusted time periodoptions to one or more of the client devices. The text interface 136 mayreceive one or more messages from at least one of the one or more clientdevices indicating a indicating one or more preferred time periods,which may be a selection of one or of the one or more permissiblyadjusted time period options, and the text interface 136 may input thisindication to the application server side runtime 140. Furtherresource-allocation functionality of the application server side runtime140 may be provided to the client devices 112 via the text interface 136using similar mechanisms.

The computer system 100 includes the application server side runtime140. The application server side runtime 140 may be a computer program,or multiple computer programs, implemented on a single computing deviceor over a plurality of computing devices. The application server sideruntime 140 provides resource-allocation functionality. For example, theapplication server side runtime 140 may access a resource allocationplan, and provide the resource allocation plan or a part thereof to oneor more interfaces in response to requests from one of the interfaces130, e.g. in response to a request (e.g. an API call and/or servicerequest) from one of the interfaces 130. The resource allocation planmay include allocations of resources to time periods for one or moreseries of recurring events, and the resource allocation plan may bestored in a database 150 and/or accessible through data interfaces 160.As another example, the application server side runtime 140 may receivea request from one of the interfaces 130 to allocate one or moreresources to a series of recurring events. In response to the request,the application server side runtime 140 may communicate with thedatabase 150, the data interfaces 160 and/or a resource allocationengine 190 (either directly or indirectly via the database) to allocatethe one or more resources to the series of recurring events.

The computer system 100 includes the database 150. The data stored inthe database 150 includes resource allocation information, e.g. aresource allocation plan. The database 150 provides data storage andaccess functionality, e.g. functionality whereby data can be written toand read from the database 150. The database 150 may also facilitate thedeletion of data from the database. The database 150 may be anycombination of software and hardware capable of providing thisfunctionality. For example, the database software may be; a relationaldatabase server, e.g. a Standard Query Language (SQL) database server; aNoSQL database server, e.g. a key-value store server, a column storeserver, a document store server or a graph database server; or a filestorage server, e.g. a file transfer protocol. The hardware on which thedatabase software is implemented may be one or more suitable computingdevices, e.g. one or more server computing devices and/or one or morecomputing devices of a cloud computing system.

The database 150 is configured to interact with the application serverside runtime such that the application server side runtime 140 may readdata from and write data to the database 150. The database 150 maycommunicate with, e.g. receive data to be written from and provide datato be read to, the application server side runtime 140 over a network ofany of the types previously mentioned. The database 150 may communicateusing a database specific communication technology, e.g. a databasespecific protocol, or a widely applicable communication technology, e.g.SOAP or REST service calls. Alternatively or additionally, the database150 may communicate with the application server side runtime 140 usingAPI calls, interprocess communication and/or shared storage. Theaforementioned communication technologies may be particularly applicablewhen the database 150 and the application server side runtime 140 arehosted on the same computing device.

The computer system 100 also includes one or more data interfaces 160.The one or more data interfaces 160 are configured to load data from oneor more data repositories 170 into the database 150. The one or moredata interfaces 160 may also synchronise changes to the correspondingdata loaded into the database 150, e.g. updates to the database by theapplication server side runtime 140, back to the data repositories. Theone or more data interfaces 160 may be one or more computer programsimplemented on a single computing device or over a plurality ofcomputing devices. For example, each of the one or more interfaces maybe implemented as individual computer programs and each of theindividual computer programs may be hosted on a different computingdevice, or the one or more interfaces may be implemented as a singlecomputer program hosted on a single computing device.

Each of the one or more data repositories 170 may be part of thecomputer system 100 or external to the computer system 100. Each of thedata repositories 170 may be implemented using any hardware and/orsoftware combination using which the relevant data can be loaded andprovided to the one or more data interfaces, For example, each of thedata repositories 170 may be or include a database; flat file storage;application specific data stores; and/or applications for dynamic datageneration and/or transformation. Furthermore, in an alternativeembodiment, the data repositories 170 are integrated within the database150 itself. In this case, there may be no need for the data interface160.

The one or more data repositories may include a resource data repository172. The resource data repository includes information about one or moreresources. For example, the resource data repository 172 may includeproperties of each of the one or more resources.

The one or more resources may include, for example: human resources,e.g. persons such as staff, contractors, external partners and clients;event locations, e.g. confluence locations, such as meeting room, and/orconference locations, such as a convention center or assembly hall;specialized equipment that may be only used by one person at a time,such as a 3D printer or motion capture device; computing devices, e.g.desktop, laptop and tablet computers; data storage, e.g. the amount ofdata storage available on one or more file storage servers at one ormore locations; network capacity, e.g. the amount of network bandwidthavailable in a local area network and/or a shared internet connection;equipment, e.g. printers, telecommunication equipment or videoconferencing equipment; workspace such as laboratory space or officespace, e.g. in terms of physical space or other workspace resources,such as desks; and/or gymnasium space and equipment.

Examples of properties of these resources that may be included in theresource data repository information 172 follow. For human resources,the properties of a person may include a name of the person; a role ofthe person; an organization of the person; a department of the person;and a seniority of the person. For event locations, the properties of anevent location may include: a geographic location, e.g. the address ofthe event location; a building location, e.g. which floor and/or sectionof a building, such as an office, the event location is on; a name, e.g.the name of a meeting room; a capacity, e.g. a maximum number of personsthat can be accommodated in the event location; a size, e.g. thedimensions and/or area of the event location; lighting, e.g. anindication of an amount of natural light available at the eventlocation; decor, e.g. an indication as to whether the event location issufficiently well decorated to host events involving external persons;and/or fixed equipment at the event location, e.g. whether the eventlocation has a projector, a sound system, videoconferencing equipment,tables, seating, and/or a whiteboard. For specialized equipment, theproperties of the resources may include the model of the specializedequipment and its suitability for particular tasks, e.g. for a 3Dprinter, the materials with which it can be used and the maximum printsize. For data storage, the properties of the data storage may include adata access bandwidth and latency, and a data storage type, such aswhether it is persistent or temporary storage. For a computing device,the properties of the computing device may include the processing power,the memory available, the operating system and the software installed.For network capacity, the properties of the network capacity may includethe latency of the network or a part thereof; the type of the networkcapacity, such as whether it is wired or wireless network capacity; thelocation of the network capacity, and/or security of the networkcapacity. For equipment, the equipment properties may include the typeof the equipment, the model of the equipment, and/or technicalspecifications of the equipment, e.g. the number of pages per minutethat a printer can print or the video quality (e.g. resolution) of videoconferencing equipment. For workspace, the properties may include thetype of workspace, the size of the workspace, equipment located in orotherwise associated with the workspace, and the number of people thatmay simultaneously use the workspace. For workspace resources, such asdesks, the properties may include; a number of desks, any associatedequipment (in general or for each desk), e.g. whether a phone, videoconferencing equipment, multiple monitor setup, and/or a laptop dock isavailable; size and/or dimensions; and/or whether the desk/workspace issound isolated. For gymnasium equipment, the properties may include thetype of gymnasium equipment; muscle groups associated with gymnasiumequipment; a weight of the gymnasium equipment; and a size of thegymnasium equipment.

The one or more data repositories 170 may include a resourceavailability data repository 174. The resource availability datarepository 174 includes resource availability data for one or moreresources. Resource availability data may include, but is not limitedto, times when each of the one or more resources are available; theamounts of a particular resource of the one or more resources that areavailable; and/or the amount of resources of a given type that areavailable, e.g. how many computing devices are available.

For human resources, the availability data repository 174 may includeperson-specific availability data for one or more persons of the one ormore resources. The person-specific availability data may be sourcedfrom calendars of the one or more persons, e.g. from calendar data of acalendar application. The person-specific availability data mayalternatively or additionally be sourced from a human resources (HR)system designating absence data indicating that at least one of the oneor more persons is not expected in be available at a given time (e.g.because of annual leave absence, sickness absence, non-working days(e.g. for part-time workers) and/or public holidays). Theperson-specific availability data may alternatively or additionally besourced by processing emails of at least some of the one or morepersons, with their consent, to determine time periods when they are notexpected to be available which have not been included in theircalendars. The person-specific availability data may include data forfuture time periods such that future events may be scheduled for whenpersons are available based on their stated or inferred futureavailability. The person-specific availability data may also includehistoric data indicating when given persons were available or notavailable in the past. Such historic data may be used to infer whenpersons are likely to be available or not during future time periods.For example, a person may have been unavailable at a given time periodon a given day on most weeks for the past year but may not have includedthis in their calendar for the coming week. However, it is reasonablylikely that this may be an oversight by the person, and the personswill, in fact, also be unavailable this week, so scheduling eventsincluding the person at the given time period on the given day shouldstill be avoided.

For human resources, the availability data repository 174 may includegeneric availability data indicating when all, most or a group of theone or more are unavailable. For example, the generic availability datamay include data indicating that all persons except for a skeleton groupof persons will not be available on a given day, e.g. because of apublic holiday, an emergency, an information systems outage orgovernment-mandated closure. As another example, the genericavailability data may include data indicating that a group of personsare unavailable over a designated lunch break period for that group ofpersons. The generic availability data may also include data indicatingthat persons will be available within certain working hours except forconflicts and variations. Generic availability data may be sourced froma facilities management system, a human resources system and/or acalendar system.

The one or more data repositories 170 may include a resource importancedata repository 176. The resource importance data repository 176includes indications of the importance of one or more resources. Theimportance of each of the one or more resources may indicate therelative importance of each resource to events. The importance mayinclude a general importance and/or one or more specific importances.The general importance may indicate an overall importance of a resourcecompared to other resources. Each of the one or more specificimportances may indicate the importance of a resource for a particularseries of recurring events compared to other resources to be allocatedfor that particular series of recurring events; and/or the one or morespecific importances may indicate the importance of a resource comparedto other resources for a particular type of a series of recurringevents.

The one or more data repositories 170 may include an expected locationdata repository 178. The expected location data repository 178 mayinclude expected location data for at least a portion of the one or moreresources, e.g. movable resources of the one or more resources. Theexpected location data may indicate the expected location of the atleast a portion of the one or more resources over one or more futuretime periods. The expected location data may be sourced from one or moreresource management systems, e.g. an enterprise resource planningsystem. Expected location data for non-human resources may be sourcedfrom the one or more resource management systems. Expected location datafor human resources may be sourced from other systems.

For human resources, the expected location data repository 178 mayinclude person-specific expected location data for one or more personsof the one or more resources. The person-specific location data may besourced from calendars of the one or more person, e.g. from calendardata of a calendar application, which may indicate where the person isplanning to be, e.g. at home or in the office, at one or more timeperiods. The person-specific expected location data may alternatively oradditionally be sourced from a human resources (HR) system designatingdays of the week where it has been agreed that the person will be in theoffice. The person-specific expected location data may alternatively oradditionally be sourced by processing email of certain persons, with thepersons' consent, to determine where the location of the person wherethis may not be available or may differ from what is included in thecalendar data. The person-specific expected location data may includedata for future time periods such that it can be determined whether aperson is expected to attend events in-person or remotely.

The person-specific expected location data may also include historicdata indicating where given persons were in the past. Such historic datamay be used to infer where persons are likely to be during future timeperiods. For example, a person may have been at a given location on agiven day of the week for most weeks of the year but may have notindicated this in their calendar for the coming week. However, it isreasonably likely that this may be an oversight by the person, and theperson will, in fact be at the given location on the given day of theweek. In addition to one or more of the data sources previouslyindicated, the historic data may include location tracker dataindicating the past location of persons which has been collected withthe persons' consent. The persons may also limit when such locationtracker data may be collected and the granularity of this locationtracker data, e.g. a person may indicate that location tracker data canonly be collected on working days and only to the nearest kilometre. Thelocation tracker data may be collected using devices including a globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver component carried by persons, such asthe persons' smartphones. The location tracker data may be used todetermine whether, at given times and days of the week in the past, theperson was at a given location and when they are likely to be at thegiven location in future.

For human resources, the expected location data repository 178 mayinclude generic expected location data. The generic expected locationdata may indicate where all or most or a group of the one or morepersons are expected to be at one or more time periods. For example, thegeneric availability data may include data indicating that all persons(or all persons except for a skeleton group of persons) are not expectedto be in the office on a given day, e.g. because of a public holiday, anemergency, refurbishment of an office or part thereof, or agovernment-mandated office closure. Such generic expected location datamay, in certain instances, override person-specific expected locationdata. For example, if an office is closed then a person cannot be in theoffice even if the person-specific expected location data indicatesotherwise. Generic expected location data may be sourced from afacilities management system, a human resources system and/or a calendarsystem.

The computer system 100 includes resource-allocation configuration data180. The resource-allocation configuration data 180 may be stored in thedatabase 150 and/or may be stored as settings associated with a resourceallocation engine 190, e.g. associated registry settings or aconfiguration file. The resource-allocation configuration data 180 isused by the resource-allocation engine 190 in allocating resources totime periods for series of recurring events.

The resource-allocation configuration data 180 may include repetitionobjectives data 182. The repetition objectives data may includerepetition objectives themselves and associated data. The repetitionobjectives may be of any of the types previously described. Theassociated data may include one or more associations of repetitionobjectives with respective identifiers, e.g. a numerical ID or name forthe repetition objective. These respective identifiers may be includedin requests to allocate resources to a series of recurring events, suchthat the details of the repetition objective may not be included in therequest and instead looked up by utilizing the association. As thesedetails are not included in the request, the network bandwidth used inmaking the request may be reduced. The associated data may include oneor more association of repetition objectives with types of series ofrecurring events. The type may be include in requests to allocateresources to a series of recurring events, such that the details of therepetition objective may not be included in the request and insteadinferred based on the type. As these details are not included in therequest, the network bandwidth used in making the request may bereduced. Furthermore, the maintainability of the computer system 100 maybe increased as repetition objectives may be changed for a type ofseries of recurring events without changes to each of these requests.

The resource-allocation configuration data 180 may include adjustmentcriteria data 184. The adjustment criteria data may include adjustmentcriteria themselves and associated data. The adjustment criteria may beof any of the types previously described. The associated data mayinclude one or more associations of adjustment criteria with respectiveidentifiers, e.g. a numerical ID or name for the adjustment criteria.These respective identifiers may be included in requests to allocateresources to a series of recurring events, such that the details of theadjustment criteria may not be included in the request and insteadlooked up by utilizing the association. As these details are notincluded in the request, the network bandwidth used in making therequest may be reduced. The associated data may include one or moreassociation of adjustment criteria with types of series of recurringevents. The type may be included in requests to allocate resources to aseries of recurring events, such that the details of the adjustmentcriteria may not be included in the request and instead inferred basedon the type. As these details are not included in the request, thenetwork bandwidth used in making the request may be reduced.Furthermore, the maintainability of the computer system 100 may beincreased as adjustment criteria may be changed for a type of series ofrecurring events without changes to each of these requests.

The resource allocation configuration data 180 may include preferencedata 186. The preference data may indicate time period preferences ofone or more resources, e.g. one or more time periods when one or morepersons would prefer to be allocated. For example, a person may preferto be allocated to a time period for an event that is in the afternoonbut is available to be allocated to a time period in the morning.

The resource allocation configuration data 180 may include constraintspecification data 188. The constraint specification data 188 mayindicate rules and/or other criteria that the allocations of resourcesto the time periods for series of recurring events must satisfy. Forexample, the constraint specification data 188 may include maximumoccupancy or density of occupancy indicating that no more than a maximumamount of a type of one or more resources should be allocated at a giventime period in a given location. This may be defined by technical orregulatory requirements, such as health and safety rules. Such rules mayinclude social distancing rules or fire safety rules. For instance,social distancing rules may specify that one or more resources, e.g.human resources such as persons, should not be assigned to a given timeperiod at or proximate to a given location that would result in thembeing less than a certain distance (e.g. one meter or two meters) apart.Equally, fire safety rules may limit the number of resources, e.g. humanresources such as persons, that may be assigned to a given time periodin an area associated with a particular fire exit.

The computer system 100 includes the resource allocation engine 190. Theresource allocation engine 190 may be a computer program, or multiplecomputer programs, implemented on a single computing device or over aplurality of computing devices.

The resource allocation engine 190 generates an allocation of one ormore resources to a series of recurring events based on data from thedatabase 150, the one or more data repositories 170, the resourceallocation configuration data 180, and/or data include in a request toallocate the one or more resources to the series of recurring events.The resource allocation engine 190 may store the allocation in thedatabase 150.

Recurring Event Series Scheduling Method

FIG. 2 illustrates an example method 200 for scheduling a series ofrecurring events. The example method may be implemented as one or morecomputer-executable instructions executed on one or more computingdevices, e.g. the computing device 500 described in relation to FIG. 5.The example method may be performed by the resource allocation engine190 described with respect to FIG. 1. Optional steps are indicated viadashed lines.

At step 210, one or more requests to allocate one or more resources to aseries of recurring events are received. The one or more resources maybe of any of the types described in relation to the resource datarepository 172 of the computer system 100. For example, the one or moreresources may include persons and event locations. The series ofrecurring events may be a series of recurring confluences, e.g. a seriesof recurring meetings or assemblies. The one or more requests may be orinclude a request to allocate a desired plurality of resources includingthe one or more resources and one or more unavailable resources. Therequest may have been received from a client device, e.g. one of theclient devices 112 of the computer system 100.

The request specifies, for each event, a corresponding desired timeperiod over which the one or more resources are to be allocated. Therequest may include one or more repetition objectives for specifying thecorresponding time period for each event. The one or more repetitionobjectives may include one or more of a recurrence definition, aperiodicity definition, a day reference definition and/or a named daydefinition. Further details of the one or more repetition objectiveshave been described in relation to FIG. 1.

The request further specifies one or more adjustment criteria fordefining one or more permissibly adjusted time periods, for one or moreof the events, one or more permissibly adjusted time periods from thedesired time period. For example, the one or more adjustment criteriamay be used to derive one or more permissibly adjusted time periods froma desired time period. The one or more adjustment criteria may includeone or more of a time range; a date range; a time flexibility parameter;a date flexibility parameter; a plurality of time alternatives; and/or aplurality of date alternatives. The one or more adjustment criteria mayinclude one or more adjustment constraints. Further details of theadjustment criteria and how they may be combined have been described inrelation to FIG. 1.

The receiving of the one or more requests of step 210 may be subsequentto receiving an initial request to allocate one or more resources to afirst event. Alternatively, the initial request may be included in theone or more requests of step 210. The initial request may specify a timeinterval, e.g. a week or month, within which the one or more resourcesare to be allocated. In response to the initial request, first resourceavailability data indicative of an availability of the one or moreresources during the time interval may be obtained. Then, a first timeperiod for the first event may be determined based on the resourceavailability during determining, based on the first resourceavailability data, a first time period for the first event; andallocating the one or more resources to the first time period. The oneor more resources may be allocated to the first time period. One or moreof the desired time periods of the one or more request of step 210 maybe based directly or indirectly on the first time period. For example,the desired time period for the earliest of the series of recurringevents of step 210 may be based on the first time period, and each ofthe desired time periods for subsequent events of the series ofrecurring events may be based on the desired time period for theprevious event. In some implementations, the initial request may bereceived from a person, and the one or more requests of step 210 may beinitiated without further user intervention, e.g. automaticallyinitiated, subsequent to the initial request.

At step 220, for each event of the series of recurring events, resourceavailability data indicative of the availability of the one or moreresources during the desired time period is obtained. The obtainedresource availability data for each event of the series of recurringevents may include, but is not limited to, data indicating whether theone or more resources are available during the desired time period;and/or the amounts of the one or more resources that are availableduring the desired time period. The resource availability data may be ofany of the types described in relation to the resource availability datarepository 174 of the computer system 100.

At step 230, where the one or more requests are or include a request toallocate a desired plurality of resources including the one or moreresources and the one or more unavailable resources, importance dataindicative of a relative importance of the one or more resources and theone or more unavailable resources may be obtained for at least one ofthe events of the series of recurring events. The importance of each ofthe one or more resources and/or one or more unavailable resources mayindicate the relative importance of each resource to events. Theimportance may include a general importance and/or a specificimportance. The general importance may indicate an overall importance ofa resource compared to other resources. The specific importance mayindicate the importance of a resource to the series of recurring eventscompared to other resources to be allocated for the series of recurringevents. The resource importance data may be obtained from a resourceimportance data repository, e.g. resource importance data repository176. Alternatively, or in addition, the importance data may be specifiedin the request (e.g. the requesting person may specify that certainresources are important or essential for the event).

At step 240, expected location data indicative of an expected locationof at least a portion of the one or more resources during the desiredtime period is obtained for at least one event of the series ofrecurring events. The expected location data may indicate the expectedlocations of at least a portion of the one or more resources, e.g. oneor more movable resources of the movable resources, during the desiredtime period. The expected location data may be of any of the typesdescribed in relation to the expected location data repository 178 ofthe computer system 100.

At step 250, preference data is obtained. The preference data isindicative of one or more time period preferences of at least a portionof the one or more resources, e.g. one or more persons of the one ormore resources. The time period preferences may indicate one or moretime periods when one or more persons of the one or more resources wouldprefer to be allocated. The one or more time period preferences mayindicate a preference for a certain one or more time periods of the oneor more permissibly adjusted time periods.

For each event of the series of recurring events, steps 260 and 270 areperformed.

At step 260, a viable time period which is determined. The viable timeperiod is either the desired time period or a permissibly adjusted timeperiod. The viable time period is determined based on at least theresource availability data. Where expected location data, resourceimportance data, and/or preference data have been obtained, thedetermination of the viable time period may be based on any or anycombination of these. Implementations of step 260 are described withrespect to FIG. 3.

At step 270, the one or more resources are allocated to the viable timeperiod. Allocating the one or more resources to the viable time periodmay include storing an indication of the allocation of the one or moreresources to the viable time period in a database or to a data store ofan external system, e.g. a calendar application data store or anexternal resource allocation system data store.

Viable Time Period Determination Method

FIG. 3 illustrates a first method 260-A and a second method 260-B forimplementing the viable time period determination step 260. For the sakeof clarity, the first method 260-A and the second method 260-B aredescribed independently. However, these two methods and steps thereofmay be combined as appropriate.

The first method 260-A includes the steps 310, 320 and 330.

At step 310, it is determined that at least one of the one or moreresources is unavailable at the desired time period based on theresource availability data. The determination that at least one of theone or more resources is unavailable at the desired time period mayinclude determining that a quorum amount or proportion of the at leastone of the one or more resources are not available at the desired timeperiod. For example, the at least one of the one or more resources mayinclude persons having a specified role, e.g. software engineers, and atleast a minimum number, e.g. at least three, or minimum proportion, e.g.at least half, may not be available at the desired time period.

At step 320, one or more permissibly adjusted time periods aredetermined. This determination may be in response to determining thatthe at least one of the one or more resources is unavailable at thedesired time period. The determination of the one or more permissiblyadjusted time periods may include deriving one or more permissiblyadjusted time periods from the desired time period using the adjustmentcriteria. The one or more permissibly adjusted time periods may be aplurality of permissibly adjusted time periods.

At step 330, the viable time period is set to be one of the one or morepermissibly adjusted time periods. The setting of the viable time periodto the one of the one or more permissibly adjusted time periods may beor include an optimization procedure to select a best viable time periodof the one or more permissibly adjusted time periods. The optimizationprocedure may select the best viable time period based on one or more ofthe resource availability data, the expected location data, and/or thepreference data. The optimization procedure may select the best viabletime period in accordance with one or more optimization values and/orcriteria calculated based on the data used in the optimization. Those ofthe one or more permissibly adjusted time periods selectable by theoptimization procedure may be limited by one or more constraints definedby constraint specification data.

Step 330 may include a step 332 where it is determined, based on theresource availability data, that the at least one of the one or moreresources are available at the one of the one or more permissiblyadjusted time periods. For example, the one or more permissibly adjustedtime periods may be a plurality of permissibly adjusted time periods. Inthe plurality of permissibly adjusted time periods, there may be one ormore time periods where the one or more resources are available and oneor more other time periods where the one or more resources are notavailable. Therefore, the viable time period may be set to one of theplurality of permissibly adjusted time periods at which the one or moreresources are available. Where there are multiple permissibly adjustedtime periods of the plurality of permissibly adjusted time periods atwhich the one or more resources are available, the viable time periodmay be set to one of these multiple permissibly adjusted time periodsbased on a determination of one of these time periods as having the mostavailable resources, based on preference data where this has beenobtained, or based on a combination thereof. Where expected locationdata has been obtained, the viable time period may be set based on this,e.g. the viable time period may be set to one of the plurality ofpermissibly adjusted time periods at which the one or more resources areproximate to each other.

Step 330 may include a step 334 where it is determined, based on theresource importance data, that at least one of the one or more resourcesis of a greater importance than one or more unavailable resources of thedesired plurality of resources. This determination may be used to setthe viable time period as there may not be a permissibly adjusted timeperiod at which all of the desired plurality of resources are available.Therefore, the viable time period may be set to one of the permissiblyadjusted time periods at which resources of a greater importance areavailable.

The second method 260-B includes the steps 340, 350 and 360.

At step 340, one or more permissibly adjusted time period options areprovided to one or more persons. The one or more persons may be at leasta portion of the one or more resources. Providing the one or morepermissibly adjusted time period options to the one or more persons mayinclude a step 342 where the one or more permissibly adjusted timeperiod options are sent to one or more computing devices of the one ormore persons. The one or more time period options may be sent using anyof the methods described with respect to the one or more interfaces 130of the computer system 100, e.g. the one or more time period options maybe sent as service requests, web content or messages. The one or morecomputing devices may be respective client devices of the one or morepersons, e.g. the client devices 112 of the computer system 100. The oneor more computing devices may present the one or more time periodoptions to the respective one or more persons, e.g. display or audiblyoutput the one or more time period options.

At step 350, one or more indications of one or more preferred timeperiods are received. The one or more indications may be based on one ormore inputs by at least one of the one or more persons in response tothe provision of the one or more permissibly adjusted time periodoptions. The one or more indications of the preferred time periods mayinclude one or more selections of at least one of the one or morepermissibly adjusted time period options. These one or more selectionsmay be based on one or more selection inputs by the at least one of theone or more persons, e.g. selecting at least one user interface elementcorresponding to the at least one of the one or more permissiblyadjusted time period options. Alternatively or additionally, the one ormore indications of the preferred time periods may include a time periodthat is not one of the permissibly adjusted time period options. Thistime period may be a permissibly adjusted time period that was notincluded in the permissibly adjusted time period options.

At step 360, the viable time period is determined based on the receivedone or more indications of the one or more preferred time periods. Theviable time period may be determined to be a most popular of the one ormore preferred time periods, e.g. the time period that has beenindicated as being preferred the greatest number of times. For example,where the one or more indications are one or more selections of at leastone of the one or more permissibly adjusted time period options, theviable time period may be determined as the one of the one or morepermissibly adjusted time period options that has been selected thegreatest number of times.

Time Period Update Method

FIG. 4 illustrates an example method 400 for updating one or more timeperiods based on updated resource availability. The example method maybe implemented as one or more computer-executable instructions executedon one or more computing devices, e.g. the computing device 500described in relation to FIG. 5. The example method may be performed bythe resource allocation engine 190 and/or the application server sideruntime described with respect to FIG. 1. Optional steps are indicatedvia dashed lines.

The example method 400 is performed subsequent to the example method200. For example, the example method 200 may have allocated the one ormore resources to previously viable time periods for a series ofrecurring events based on previous resource availability data. Theadjustment criteria and desired time periods derived by the examplemethod 200 may be maintained and/or regenerated and are used by theexample method 400. The example method 400 may be performed at asubsequent time. e.g. an hour, day or week later, at which updatedresource availability data is available.

At step 410, updated resource availability data is obtained for at leastone event of the series of recurring events. The updated resourceavailability data is indicative of an updated availability of the one ormore resources during the (previously) viable time period for the atleast one event.

At step 420, an updated viable time period for the at least one event isdetermined based on the updated resource availability data. The updatedviable time period is either the desired time period or a permissiblyadjusted time period.

Step 420 may include a step 422, where it is determined, based on theupdated resource availability data, that at least one of the one or moreresources is unavailable at the (previously) viable time period. Forexample, the (previous) resource availability data may have indicatedthat the at least one of the one or more resources are available at the(previously) viable time period, while the updated resource availabilitydata indicates that they are no longer available, e.g. because the oneor more resources have been allocated to another event at the(previously) viable time period.

Step 420 may include a step 424, where it is determined, based on theupdated resource availability data, that the at least one of the one ormore resource is available at one or more other time periods. Each ofthe one or more other time periods is the desired time period or apermissibly adjusted time period. Each of the permissibly adjusted timeperiods of the one or more other time periods may be derived from thedesired time period using the adjustment criteria.

Step 420 may include a step 426, where the updated viable time period isset to be one of the one or more other time periods. The updated viabletime period may be set to one of the one or more other time periodsbased on preference data where this has been obtained, based on adetermination of one of these time periods as having the most availableresources, or based on a combination thereof. Where expected locationdata has been obtained, the updated viable time period may be set basedon this, e.g. the updated viable time period may be set to one of theone or more other time periods at which the one or more resources areproximate to each other. The setting of the updated viable time periodto the one of the one or more other time periods may be or include anoptimization procedure to select a best updated viable time period ofthe one or more other time periods. The optimization procedure mayselect the best updated viable time period based on one or more of theupdated resource availability data, the expected location data, and/orthe preference data. The optimization procedure may select the bestupdated viable time period in accordance with one or more optimizationvalues and/or criteria calculated based on the data used in theoptimization. Those of the one or more other time periods selectable bythe optimization procedure may be limited by one or more constraintsdefined by constraint specification data.

At step 430, the one or more resources are allocated to the updatedviable time period for the at least one event. The allocation of the oneor more resources to the updated viable time period may be areallocation of the one or more resources from the (previous) viabletime period to the updated viable time period. The allocation of the oneor more resources may include updating an indication of the allocationof the one or more resources in a database or a data store of anexternal system, e.g. a calendar application data store or an externalresource allocation system data store, to indicate that the one or moreresources are allocated to the updated viable time period.

Computing Device

FIG. 5 shows a computing device 500 using which the embodimentsdescribed herein may be implemented.

The computing device 500 includes a bus 510, a processor 520, a memory530, a persistent storage device 540, an Input/Output (I/O) interface550, and a network interface 560.

The bus 510 interconnects the components of the computing device 500.The bus may be any circuitry suitable for interconnecting the componentsof the computing device 500. For example, where the computing device 500is a desktop or laptop computer, the bus 510 may be an internal buslocated on a computer motherboard of the computing device. As anotherexample, where the computing device 500 is a smartphone or tablet, thebus 510 may be a global bus of a system on a chip (SoC).

The processor 520 is a processing device configured to performcomputer-executable instructions loaded from the memory 530. Prior toand/or during the performance of computer-executable instructions, theprocessor may load computer-executable instructions over the bus fromthe memory 530 into one or more caches and/or one or more registers ofthe processor. The processor 520 may be a central processing unit with asuitable computer architecture, e.g. an x86-64 or ARM architecture. Theprocessor 520 may include or alternatively be specialized hardwareadapted for application-specific operations.

The memory 530 is configured to store instructions and data forutilization by the processor 520. The memory 530 may be a non-transitoryvolatile memory device, such as a random access memory (RAM) device. Inresponse to one or more operations by the processor, instructions and/ordata may be loaded into the memory 530 from the persistent storagedevice 540 over the bus, in preparation for one or more operations bythe processor utilising these instructions and/or data.

The persistent storage device 540 is a non-transitory non-volatilestorage device, such as a flash memory, a solid state disk (SSD), or ahard disk drive (HDD). A non-volatile storage device maintains datastored on the storage device after power has been lost. The persistentstorage device 540 may have a significantly greater access latency andlower bandwidth than the memory 530, e.g. it may take significantlylonger to read and write data to/from the persistent storage device 540than to/from the memory 530. However, the persistent storage 540 mayhave a significantly greater storage capacity than the memory 530.

The I/O interface 550 facilitates connections between the computingdevice and external peripherals. The I/O interface 550 may receivesignals from a given external peripheral, e.g. a keyboard or mouse,convert them into a format intelligible by the processor 520 and relaythem onto the bus for processing by the processor 520. The I/O interface550 may also receive signals from the processor 520 and/or data from thememory 530, convert them into a format intelligible by a given externalperipheral, e.g. a printer or display, and relay them to the givenexternal peripheral.

The network interface 560 facilitates connections between the computingdevice and one or more other computing devices over a network. Forexample, the network interface 560 may be an Ethernet network interface,a Wi-Fi network interface, or a cellular network interface.

Implementations of the subject matter and the operations described inthis specification can be realized in digital electronic circuitry, orin computer software, firmware, or hardware, including the structuresdisclosed in this specification and their structural equivalents, or incombinations of one or more of them. For instance, hardware may includeprocessors, microprocessors, electronic circuitry, electroniccomponents, integrated circuits, etc. Implementations of the subjectmatter described in this specification can be realized using one or morecomputer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer programinstructions, encoded on computer storage medium for execution by, or tocontrol the operation of, data processing apparatus. Alternatively or inaddition, the program instructions can be encoded on anartificially-generated propagated signal, e.g., a machine-generatedelectrical, optical, or electromagnetic signal that is generated toencode information for transmission to suitable receiver apparatus forexecution by a data processing apparatus. A computer storage medium canbe, or be included in, a computer-readable storage device. acomputer-readable storage substrate, a random or serial access memoryarray or device, or a combination of one or more of them. Moreover,while a computer storage medium is not a propagated signal, a computerstorage medium can be a source or destination of computer programinstructions encoded in an artificially-generated propagated signal. Thecomputer storage medium can also be, or be included in, one or moreseparate physical components or media (e.g., multiple CDs, disks, orother storage devices).

While certain arrangements have been described, the arrangements havebeen presented by way of example only, and are not intended to limit thescope of protection. The inventive concepts described herein may beimplemented in a variety of other forms. In addition, various omissions,substitutions and changes to the specific implementations describedherein may be made without departing from the scope of protectiondefined in the following claims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A computer-implemented method for scheduling anevent, the method comprising: receiving a request to allocate a desiredplurality of resources to an event, wherein the request specifies a timeinterval within which the desired plurality of resources are to beallocated, and wherein the desired plurality of resources comprises afirst one or more resources and a second one or more resources;obtaining resource importance data indicative of a relative importanceof at least one of the first one or more resources and the second one ormore resources; obtaining resource availability data indicative of anavailability of the first one or more resources during the timeinterval; determining that at least one of the first one or moreresources is of a greater importance than the second one or moreresources; determining, based on the resource availability data, a timeperiod for the event during the time interval, wherein the first one ormore resources are available at the time period and the second one ormore resources are unavailable at the time period; and allocating thefirst one or more resources to the time period.
 22. The method of claim21, further comprising: obtaining preference data indicative of one ormore time period preferences of at least one of the one or moreresources, and wherein the determination of the time period for theevent is based on the preference data.
 23. The method of claim 22,wherein at least one of the one or more time period preferencesindicates a preference for a time period in a morning or a time periodin an afternoon during the time interval.
 24. A computer-implementedmethod for scheduling an event, the method comprising: receiving arequest to allocate one or more resources to an event, wherein therequest specifies a time interval within which the one or more resourcesare to be allocated, and wherein the one or more resources comprise oneor more persons; obtaining resource availability data indicative of anavailability of the one or more resources during the time interval;determining, based on the resource availability data, a time period forthe event during the time interval, comprising: providing, to the one ormore persons, one or more time period options during the time interval;receiving one or more indications of one or more preferred time periods,wherein the one or more indications are based on one or more inputs byat least one of the one or more persons in response to the provision ofthe one or more time period options; and determining the time periodbased on the received one or more indications of the one or morepreferred time periods; and allocating the one or more resources to thetime period.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more timeperiod options comprises the time period, and wherein at least one ofthe one or more inputs comprises a selection of the time period.
 26. Themethod of claim 24, wherein providing one or more time period optionscomprises sending the one or more time period options to one or morecomputing devices of the one or more persons.
 27. A computer-implementedmethod for scheduling an event, the method comprising: receiving arequest to allocate one or more resources to an event, wherein therequest specifies a time interval within which the one or more resourcesare to be allocated; obtaining resource availability data indicative ofan availability of the one or more resources during the time interval;and determining, based on the resource availability data, a time periodfor the event during the time interval; allocating the one or moreresources to the time period; obtaining updated resource availabilitydata indicative of an updated availability of the one or more resourcesduring the time period; determining, based on the updated resourceavailability, an updated time period for the event during the timeinterval, comprising: determining, based on the updated resourceavailability data, that at least one of the one is unavailable at theprevious time period; determining, based on the updated resourceavailability data that the at least one of the one or more resources isavailable at one or more other time periods, wherein each of the one ormore other time periods is within the time interval; and setting theupdated time period to be one of the one or more other time periods; andallocating the one or more resources to the updated time period.
 28. Themethod of claim 27, wherein the resource availability data comprisesperson-specific availability data for one or more persons of the one ormore resources.
 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the person-specificavailability data comprises historic data indicating when at least oneof the one or more persons were available in the past.
 30. The method ofclaim 29, wherein determining a time period for the event based on theresource availability data comprises: inferring an availability of theat least one of the one or more persons using the historic data.
 31. Themethod of claim 30, wherein inferring the availability of the at leastone of the one or more persons using the historic data comprises:determining whether the at least one of the one or more persons wasavailable at a time period during one or more past weeks; in response todetermining that the at least one of the one or more persons wasavailable at the time period during the one or more past weeks,inferring that the at least one of the one or more person is availableat the time period during one or more future weeks.
 32. The method ofclaim 27, further comprising: obtaining preference data indicative ofone or more time period preferences of at least one of the one or moreresources, and wherein the determination of the time period for theevent is based on the preference data.
 33. A computer-implemented methodfor scheduling an event, the method comprising: receiving a request toallocate one or more resources to an event, wherein the requestspecifies a time interval within which the one or more resources are tobe allocated; obtaining resource availability data indicative of anavailability of the one or more resources during the time interval;obtaining expected location data indicative of an expected location ofat least a. portion of the one or more resources during the timeinterval; determining, based on the resource availability data and theexpected location data, a time period for the event during the timeinterval, comprising: determining one or more time periods during thetime interval at which the one or more resources are proximate to eachother; and setting the time period for the event to one of the one ormore time periods; and allocating the one or more resources to the timeperiod.
 34. The method of claim 33, wherein the at least a portion ofthe one or more resources comprises one or more persons.
 35. The methodof claim 34, wherein the resource availability data comprises anindication that the one or more persons are available within specifiedworking hours.
 36. The method of claim 34, wherein expected locationdata for at least one of the one or more persons comprises historic dataindicating a past location of the at least one of the one or morepersons.
 37. The method of claim 36, wherein the historic data compriseslocation tracker data indicating the past location of the at least oneof the one or more persons.
 38. The method of claim 36, whereindetermining one or more time periods during the time interval at whichthe one or more resources are proximate to each other comprises:inferring an expected location of the at least one of the one or morepersons using the historic data.
 39. The method of claim 38, whereininferring the expected location of the at least one of the one or morepersons comprises: determining whether the at least one of the one ormore persons was at a given location at a time period during one or morepast weeks; in response to determining that the at least one of the oneor more persons was at the given location at the time period during theone or more past weeks, inferring that the at least one of the one ormore person are at the given location at the time period during one ormore future weeks.
 40. The method of claim 34, wherein the at least aportion of the one or more resources comprises one or more eventlocations.